''Jet Job'' is a 1952 American aviation

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

William Beaudine William Washington Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film actor and director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out films in remarkable numbers and in a wide variety of genres. Life and car ...

. The film stars

Stanley Clements Stanley Clements (born Stanislaw Klimowicz; July 16, 1926 – October 16, 1981) was an American actor and comedian, best known for portraying "Stash" in the East Side Kids film series, and group leader Stanislaus "Duke" Coveleskie in The Bowery ...

John Litel John Beach Litel (December 30, 1892 – February 3, 1972) was an American film and television actor. Early life Litel was born in Albany, Wisconsin. During World War I, he enlisted in the French Army and was twice decorated for bravery. Ba ...

and Bob Nichols. ''Jet Job'' features

stock footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

of various types of

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

military aircraft.

Plot

Test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

Joe Kovak (Stanley Clements) work for Sam Bentley (John Litel), the former partner of Joe's deceased father. Because Joe's father was killed while flying, however, his mother (

Dorothy Adams Dorothy Adams (January 8, 1900 – March 16, 1988) was an American character actress of stage, film, and television. Early years Adams was born in Hannah, North Dakota. She later moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, and was educated there. ...

) is afraid for her son. Bentley is competing for an important government contact but Joe is putting the effort into jeopardy as his brash attitude and propensity in disobeying orders, is becoming troublesome. Bentley's rival, Oscar Collins (

Tom Powers Thomas McCreery Powers (July 7, 1890 – November 9, 1955) was an American actor in theatre, films, radio and television. A veteran of the Broadway stage, notably in plays by George Bernard Shaw, he created the role of Charles Marsden in Eug ...

), wants Joe to work for his company, capitalizing on the test pilot's ability to fly high speed aircraft. When Bentley finally is fed up with Joe's defiance, and fires him, Collins gives his public relations manager, Marge Stevens (

Elena Verdugo Elena Angela Verdugo (April 20, 1925 – May 30, 2017) was an American actress who began in films at the age of five in '' Cavalier of the West'' (1931). Her career in radio, television and film spanned six decades. Early life Elena Angela V ...

), a $500 bonus to get Joe to sign with his company. Infatuated with Marge, Joe signs on but finds the Collins aircraft is inferior and during a test flight, after being asked to fly too high, their prototype crashes. Joe escapes unharmed, but before an investigation board, Collins blames Joe for the accident, resulting in Joe's flight license being revoked. When Joe learns about Marge's bonus, he is more determined to prove he can be the best test pilot around, but has to find his way back into the cockpit. Discovering that Bentley has planned a test flight to demonstrate his aircraft to the government, Joe sneaks into the plant and is able to fly the test flight. Government officials award Bentley Aircraft the lucrative contact. Joe gets his licence back and returns to work with Bentley Aircraft, and is able to accept that Marge is in love with him.

Cast

Production

Principal photography for ''Jet Job'' began in January 1952. After a stint in Great Britain, director William "One Shot" Beaudine returned to America in 1937 but had trouble re-establishing himself at the major studios. After working at

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

, Beaudine found work on

Poverty Row Poverty Row is a slang term used to refer to Hollywood films produced from the 1920s to the 1950s by small (and mostly short-lived) B movie studios. Although many of them were based on (or near) today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did n ...

, working for studios specializing in low-budget films, such as

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios i ...

and

Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the Hollywood film studios of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoest ...

. Beaudine became a specialist in comedies, thrillers and

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

s making dozens for these studios. By the 1940s, Beaudine had a reputation for being a resourceful, no-nonsense director who could make feature films in a matter of days, sometimes as few as five. Producer Ben Schwalb used stock footage of

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

training films, getting approval from Air Force Colonel William C. Lindley for the production. The

Lockheed T-33 The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

jet trainer was featured prominently in the film.

Reception

''Jet Job'' was a

B film A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

; ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

'' felt the film "... barely gets off the ground.""Jet Job (1952)."
''TV Guide''. Retrieved: October 31, 2014.

References

Notes Citations Bibliography * Marshall, Wendy L. ''William Beaudine: From Silents to Television''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2005. . * Paris, Michael. ''From the Wright Brothers to Top Gun: Aviation, Nationalism, and Popular Cinema.'' Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1995. . * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

* * {{William Beaudine 1952 films American adventure films American black-and-white films 1952 adventure films 1950s English-language films Films directed by William Beaudine Monogram Pictures films American aviation films Films about aviation accidents or incidents 1950s American films